Mttltiple-tread cushion tire



April 15, 1 24- R. D. PARSONS MULTIPLE TREAD CUSHION TIRL far/enter RabertDflm-ans 1 Afty Patented Apr. 15, 1924 UNITED STATES 1,490,183 PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT D. PARSONS, OF AKRON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE B, F. GOODRICH COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

MULTIPLE-BREAD CUSHION TIRE.

Application filed January 8, 1921, Serial No. 435,373. Renewed February 28, 1924.

. To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT D.PABSONS, a citizen of the United- States, residing at Akron, in the county of Summit and State 6 of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Multi le-Tread Cushion Tire, of which the fol owing-is a specification.

This invention relates to rubber tires, of the solid or cushion type, and its principal 10 object is to provide an improved form of multiple-tread .tire.

Of the accompanying drawings:

Fig. l is a sectional perspective view showing a portion of a wheel felly on which J is mounted a dual-tread cushion tire cmbodying a preferred form of my invention, the tire being completely divided circumferentially in the middle thereof.

Fig. 2 is a sidr elevation of the demounted 20 tire.

Referring to the drawings, is the. wheel folly and llis the usual metal telly-band or fixed rim thereoir having a cylindrical outer surface on \vhichthe two sections 12,

12 of the tire rim are seated. The tu'e is annular and continuous as shown in Fig. 2 and in this case is of the pressed-on variety whose rim menibers are made slightly smaller on their inner peripheries than the out/c1 periphery of the lolly-hand and are forced onto the latter under heavy pressure and held thereon by friction.

13, 13 are the two sections of the softrubber tire body and l4, 14 are the two sec tions of hard rubber in the form of a layer at the base of the so't'ta'ubber. connecting it with the metal rim, upon which latter the rubber part is vulcanized. The rim sections are shown with the usual dove-tail ribs and grooves for interlocking them with the hard rLbt-er, and at their outer edges they are formed with shallow radial flan es 133, 15 i oiprotecting the outer edges 0. the hard bbcr layer. It has been eonnnon to mount identical cushion tire units sidc-by-side on a single felly to provide dual or triple tired wheels. but. this practice has certain disadvantages. If the rims are flanged on both sides, the ratio of load-oarryiug surface to rim width is relatively small and a very unequal distribution of pressure and wear takes place under certain conditions such as traveling on crowned roads. If they are not: it aged, trouble is encountered in the separation of the rubber from the metal rim, or of the nard and soft rubber layers from each other, at the exposed base edges of the tire. These disadvantages have led to the use of wide single-tread tires, but the latter type has some undesirable character.- istics such as high ower consumption, inferior resiliency an increased development of heat under hard driving.

My reseut/ invention overcomes these difiicultles. It. will be noted in Fig. 1 that while the dual tire is provided with radial rim flanges 15 at its outer edges, so that the hard rubber '14 is protected at these points both by said flanges and by the over lying bodies 13 of soft rubber which substantially meet flanges in a taper, thereby minimizing t;,. opportunity for separation of the various layers at these outer edges, there are no radial flanges at the abutting inner edges of the rim-sections 12. but the two sections '14 ot' the hard-rubber layer come together at this point and are overlaid by the shallow base portions of the soft-rubber tire bodies 13 which also comesubstanlially or completely together at 16. Thus the hard rubber layer, and its junction lines with the metal and the soft/rubber. which are among the most vulnerable parts of a tire where separation is most diffieult to avoid. are in this case completely protected and at the same time the softrubheu tread or body parts are brought much closer together than where a plurality of double-flanged, identical or similar tires are mounted on a single wheel as heretofore.

The. adjacent inner flanks 17 of the softrubber body sections 13 1 prefer to malnsubstantially radial, and parallel or nearly so, is shown, while the outer flanks 18 have the usual beveled, reverse-curved form, but

some latitude of design is allowable in these respects. The trend surfaces may be originally either flat. or slightly rounded. and eitlwr smooth, as shown, or provided with any suitable non-skid formation as will be understood without special illustration. The cleft 19 between the body sections 13 prefer ably extends very nearly to the full depth of these soft-rubber members so asto secure the maximum of ventilation and also a higher degree of resiliency than would be obtainable in a single-tread tire of equal width. At the same time, in the form of my invention illustrated in these drawings, I

have shown the cleft 19 as being so narrow that the lateral distortion of thebody sections 13 under load, as the part of the tire which bears upon the ground, will bring them together and make them mutually supporting. This capability is especially useful where one side of the tire is hearing more than its equal share of the load, as in running on a crowned road or meeting an obstruction, for in that case the overloaded member derives lateral cushioning support from its neighbor which is not obtainable in the ordinary mnlti le tire composed of double-flanged units. his construction also affords the maxi um ratio of load-supporting surface to the ire width consistent with high cushioning properties, good ventilation and wearing qualities in the type of tire under consideration.

My invention is not wholly confined to dual tires but applies to multiple-tread cushion ti-res broad y.

I claim:

1. A vehicle tire made in a plurality of parallel sectionsand comprising a plurality of se arate, axially aligned and abutted base members flanged at the two outer edges of the tire and unfianged at their abutting edges, hard rubber layers overlying and vulcanized to said base members and substantially abutting at theadjoining faces of the tire sections, and soft-rubber tire bodies vulcanized to said hard-rubber layers and normally spaced-apart throughout the greator part of the depth of their working portions and abutting at the bases of said tire bodies so as to protect the lines of junction of the hard-rubber layers with the base members and the soft-rubber bodies.

2. A vehicle tire comprisin a pluralit of separate, axially aligned and abutted ase members, hard-rubber layers overlying and,

vulcanized to said base-members, and softrubber tire bodies overlying and vulcanized to said hard-rubber layers and normally spaced-apart throughout substantially their entire working portions except at the ex treme bases of said tire bodies, where they abut, the spaced-apart portions of the tire bodies lying sufiiciently close to each other to abut under load.

3. A dual vehicle tire comprising a plurality of separate, axially aligned and abutted base members formed with rubberlocking projections on their outer faces and with projecting flanges on their outer edges but having no promoting flanges on their abutting edges, hard-rubber layers overly ing and vulcanized to said base members, and soft-rubber tire bodies overlying and vulcanized to said hard-rubber layers and normally spaced apart throughout substantially their entire working portions e rcpt at the extreme bases of the tire bodies. where they abut.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set. my hand this 3d'dav of January, 1921.

ROBERT D. PARSONS. 

